Posted on 07/13/2005 11:59:52 AM PDT by TheOtherOne
Detective: Young Captive Remembered Every Detail of Attack on Her Family
Published: Jul 13, 2005 COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho (AP) - Convicted sex offender Joseph Edward Duncan bragged to his 8-year-old captive during more than six weeks on the run, telling her how he used a shotgun and hammer to kill her family after staking out their home for days, court documents show.
Shasta Groene remembered it all and has been providing authorities with details that are building a strong case against Duncan, according to the minutes and a recording of a closed-door probable-cause hearing.
Duncan was charged Tuesday with three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of first-degree kidnapping in the deaths of Shasta's mother Brenda Groene, 40, her brother Slade, 13, and Groene's boyfriend Mark McKenzie, 37. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.
"He told her he was out driving around looking for children to kidnap," Kootenai County sheriff's detective Brad Maskell testified during the probable cause hearing Tuesday. "He ... saw her playing in the yard with her brother and wearing a bathing suit. At that point he chose them as possible kidnap victims."
Public defender John Adams declined to comment after the hearing. "We try to do our litigation in the courtroom," he said.
Duncan's mother, Lillian, who lives in Tacoma, Wash., told The Seattle Times she had spoken briefly with him and he showed remorse, the newspaper reported Wednesday.
"I don't know what he has done or what he hasn't done," Lillian Duncan said. "I still love him; he's my son."
Shasta's family is trying to make sure she does not see news about the crimes. She was "devastated" Tuesday when she saw a picture of Duncan while changing television channels, said her grandmother, Darlene Torres.
"She saw this guy and said, 'There's Jet!'" Torres said, referring to a nickname used by Duncan. "It was really disturbing."
According to the court records and testimony, Shasta's ordeal began when she heard her mother call her into the living room early on the morning of May 16. Her mother, brother and McKenzie were bound with zip-ties and duct tape.
Duncan then bound her and Dylan and left them on the ground outside near a swing set. Shasta said she heard McKenzie yell out several times, and at one point they saw Slade stagger, incoherent and bleeding profusely from the head, out of the home. The children yelled for Slade to untie them, but he was unable to respond.
According to the account, Shasta remembered that Duncan wore dark gloves and had a shotgun and night-vision goggles. She also recalled the brand name of the hammer used to bludgeon the victims, which Duncan showed her after the attacks.
During weeks of captivity at a remote campsite in western Montana, Duncan told Shasta that he cased the family's home for two to three days, using his goggles to look in the windows and study the family's habits and the layout, officials said.
"Shasta was very specific that Mr. Duncan is the only person responsible for these acts," Maskell added.
Shasta was rescued early in the morning of July 2, when employees at a Denny's restaurant in Coeur d'Alene recognized her and called police. She has since been reunited with her father.
Dylan was found dead in Montana last week.
Duncan had been charged with kidnapping Shasta and Dylan, but those state charges will be dismissed and instead handled by the federal court system because the youngsters were taken across a state line, authorities said.
Officials have alleged that the children were repeatedly sexually molested during their ordeal, and sheriff Rocky Watson has said he believes the motive for the killings was to acquire the children for sex.
While it is The Associated Press' policy not to identify alleged victims of sexual assault in most cases, the search for Shasta and her brother was so heavily publicized that their names were already widely known.
Duncan was released on $15,000 bail earlier this year in Becker County, Minn., after being charged with molesting a 6-year-old boy. Police in Fargo, N.D., where Duncan lived, had been looking for him since he failed to check in with a probation agent there in May.
Duncan had spent more than a decade in prison for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy at gunpoint in Tacoma, Wash.
AP-ES-07-13-05 1424EDT
well, we do respond to tragedy,don't we, and not until then..
my fear is that we will have another period of wailing and gnashing of teeth, and then on to the next victim.......
Drugs, I think.....meth....but I'm not really sure.
She is a wonderful little girl. Eight-year-olds are very perceptive and sharp on details. Their minds are not as cluttered with other stuff, as with teenagers and adults. I think Shasta will be an excellent witness against Duncan. A very viable eyewitness to the ugly deeds he committed upon her entire family.
A good prosecutor will see the child through her testimony. If necessary, I believe her testimony can be taped if she does not want to confront Duncan in court. At least, that's the way it is in my state.
Of course, it would be even better for her to testify in person in front of the jury. This kid would absolutely blow them away.
God bless this strong little fighter, and may she grow and prosper into a bright and calm future.
I could follow the rest of your post but couldn't figure out the one kneecap part. Is that for identification in case tattoo was overlooked? :-)
I wonder if he got 'Beaner"?
http://www.angelsmissing.com/forum/LEANNA_BEANER_WARNER_MISSING-t211.html
Scum like this should die in prison after the first conviction.The lives of our children are worth far more then the freedom of this filth.
No just to make it more painful and to slow them down a bit.
sounds good to me.
Old West Justice - Crime at nine, caught at ten, trial at eleven and hung at high noon.
What is the name of the Minnesota judge?
I think it's judge hangin time.
Very creative.
I like the way you think.
The girl's father is all she has left as I understand it, so there's no sense in his sacrificing himself for revenge at this point. Especially with the high profile this case has achieved.
If this SOB doesn't receive the death penalty (a long shot IMHO), then I'd hope he's not kept in seclusion from other inmates. Otherwise, if I were that little girl's father and he ever got out, I'd either have someone waiting for him or be waiting for him my damn self.
I'm no fanatic, but I could not let this go is it were to happen to my kids. This SOB is evil, and so are the people that gave him money as well as the damned incompetent Minnesota judge that released him.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.